Sliding door for cars or barns



, 1,635,926 July 12, 1927' o. a. CONRAD SLIDING DOOR FOR CARS OR BARNSFiled Sept. 4. 1926 2 Sheets-Shea 1 4 --Z J.?;: z 8: W u *1; w w

gwuemtoc flliloirr Patented July 12, 1927.

" UNITED STATES P T Q F C DAVID EMERY CONRAD, OF ELDQN, Iowa, ASSIGNORor ONE-HALF WIN, OF ELDONQIOWA.

TO VAN V. BALD- smnmo noon roe CARS on .BARNS.

Application filed September 4, 1926. Serial No. 133,668.

slides from an open to a closed position and means whereby the act otreleasing the door all vice verse. I

The general object of the present invention is to improve upon theconstruct on illustrated, described, and claimed in my Patent No.1,569,799, granted January 12, 1926, and more particularly tolprovldefrom its locked position by raising the door from engagement with afixed rack, will. cause the door to be shoved open and whereby when thedoor is open and engaged with said rack and locked thereby, the ralsingof the door from the rack will give an unpulse to the door, causing itto close.

A further object in this connection is to provide means tor this purposewlnch may be shifted into or out of operative posit on.

Another objectis to provide atrack operated by a lever which willraise'or lower the door into or out of its locked position and provide aplunger operatedbolt or sealing device engaged with this track andholding the; track lowered and the doorlocked.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description. jy

Myrinvention is i lustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein NFigure 1 is a front elevation of my improved door r Fig. 2 is a sectionon the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section on the saline line as Figure 2 butshowing the door raised;

Fig. 4 is a secton on the line 4'4 of Figure 1;

Fig. 5 is a face view of the ra l and allied parts; V

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure .1.

Referring to thesedrawlngs'A designates the side of a railway car, abarn, or any other structure upon which the door may be mounted andhaving a door opening B. Adapted to be shifted over this door opening isthe sliding door 1Q. This door is formed on its upper margin and uponits outer tacewith the outwardly projecting flange 11 preferably ofmetal having an outconstituting rollers engaging the walls of wardly andupwardly inclined toothed face 12. .Drsposed over the top of the doorisa hood 13 which extends downward in front of the flange 11 and carriesthe downwardly and inwardly extending flange 14 having upwardly facing,downwardly inclined teeth 15. The teeth 12and'15 mesh with each other,though I do not wish to be limited to the use of inter-meshing teeth onthe-members l1 andld. I V g The lower. margin of the door is providedwith a plurality ofrollers 16, two for each door mounted on a suitablebearing stud 17 1 supported by abolt 19. The lower edge of the door isformed with the downwardly extending flange 21 triangular in crosssection and having downwardly and inwardly extending gear teeth22.

Mounted below the door opening are a plurality of brackets 23 whichsupport the rack 25, triangular in cross section and hav- 7 ingdownwardly and inwardly extending teeth 26 with which the teeth22 areadapted to mesh when the door is lowered. Extend: l ing outward fromeach bracket are the two bolts orequivalent members 27 and mounted uponthese stud bolts is'a' rail 28, the upper margin of which is inwardlyturned at 29,

and disposed immediately below therollers 16; The rail is formed with aplurality of cam-shaped slots 31, these slots extendinglongitudinally,then upward and longitudinally and then parallel to thetop of the rail and through-these slots the stud. bolts 27' extend. Eachslot 31 at its-rear end is upwardly extended slightly to form a pocket31 and at its forward end'eachslot is vertically increased in height asat 31" for a purpose to be later. stated. Preferably the stud bolts 27and' 27? carry chilled steel bushings 82 the slots] The rail 28 isprovided at one end with an upwardly extending lugBt having a flat innerface and the rail is pivotally connected at this end to an' operatinglever 85 on the exteriorof the wall, there being an operat ing lever 36on the interiorv of the wall. The levers 35 and 86 may be locked intheir shitted positions by any desiredlockingmeans.

So far I have described essentially all the features of my prior patentand with the construction described it is obvious that when the rail 28is lowered, the door will move downward until the toothed faces 22 and26 of members 21 and 25 will engage.

' Then the door will be locked from longitudinal movement and the samewill be true of the toothed faces 12 and 15 of flanges 11 and 14. Thus,when the door is lowered, the upper margin of the door and its lowermargin will both be locked to the housing 13, and to the brackets 23. Asthe faces 15 and 22 are downwardly and inwardly inclined, the door, asit is lowered, will be forced tightly against the face of the doorframe. Preferably I mount upon the upper margin of the door frame themember 37 so that when thedoor is raised, its upper margin will bethrown outward and thus the greater portion of the door lifted away fromand free from contact with the face of the door frame and the door willbe free to be shifted longitudinally.

The lug 34, previously referred to, is one of the improvements which Ihave added to the construction illustrated in my prior patent and thislug coacts with an abutment member mounted upon the door. This consistsof a base 38 having a rectangular recess 39 formed in its under face.One wall of this recess is shorter than the other wall, as at 40, andpivoted within this recess is the block 41 having a knob 42 upon itsouter face, the block41 being pivoted upon a pin 43. Assuming that thedoor is closed, then when the rail 28 is pushed toward the right inFigure 1 and raised by the cam slot, the lug 34 will strike the block 41and an impulse will be given to the door acting to throw the doortowards its open position. If the block 41 be swung upward by knob 42,however, it will be out of the path of movement of the lug 34 and thusno opening impulse will be given to the door but the door may be pushedopen or left simply in its raised position.

For the purpose of shoving the door towards its closed position after ithas been opened or giving the door an impulse in this direction, Iprovide a lever 43 which is pivotally mounted upon the door frame of thewall A, the arms of this lever being turned inward and the extremity ofone of these arms being disposed in the path of movement of the rail 28.If now the door is opened and lowered and it be desired to close thedoor, the lever is operated to shift the rail 28 toward the right inFigure 1 and to lift the door out of its engagement with the toothedfaces of members 15 and 25, and the movement of the rail toward theright will cause the upper end of the lever 43 to strike a stop 44mounted upon the door which will cause the door to close. This stop 44is in the form of an angle iron. When the door is moving from its closedto its open position and nearly reaches its fully open position, thisstop 44 will strike against the upper end of lever 43 and shift thelever so as to bring its lower end in contact with the adjacentextremity of the rail 28.

For the purpose of locking the track in its lowered position I provide alocking and sealing device which consists of a housing 45 mounted uponthe wvall of the car and through this housing operates a locking pin 46or plunger. This pin operates through the gear rack 25 and passesthrough an open- 1 ing 47 in the rail 28. The extremity of the pin orplunger 46 is tapered so that it will enter the opening in the trackvery readily and the extremity of this pin or plunger 46 is alsoprovided with an opening 48 tin-(nigh i which a scaling wire may beplaced. The opposite end of the plunger 46 has a head 49 which willprevent the plunger from beingpulled through this casing or housing.

The lower face or side face of the plunger is locked or unlockedposition while at the '3 same time the lever 51 may be actuated to shiftthe plunger outward or inward and when force is applied to the lever,the pin 53 will ride upward and out of the recess 52 with which it isengaged. Preferably,

as before stated, an extra lever 36 will be used in conjunction with theoperating lever 35. This is only in case this door is used for abuilding and is not designed for use with a box car and this lever 36may be disposed upon the inside of the wall if desired so as to permitthe operation of the door from either side of the wall.

If the door is shut and the locking plunger or pin 46 engages the track,the door cannot be moved by the lever 36 and the lever can be removedand the track will rcmain lowered with the door locked in its closedposition. If the seal is broken on the plunger, the plunger may beretracted, releasing the track. Thus in order to open the door, thelever 36 is pulled. The track starts to rise and this raises the doorout of its engagement with the toothed faces 15 and 22. As soon as thedoor clears the teeth, the lug 34 will come in contact with the block 41and this will start the door open or if the block 41 be raised by theknob so as to clear the hump or lug 34, the door will rise straight up.When the door is raised and is pushed wide open the angle iron stop 44will come in contact with the upper end of the lever 43 and this pushesthe track back to its original position to such point that the track islow enough to let the teeth on the door engage the teeth on the memlower end of lever 43 and this lever will strike the part 45 on the doorand will start the door towards its closed position. \Vheri the door isclosed or nearly so, the block 4L1 will again strike the lug 34 andshift the track 28 toward the left in Figure '1 lowering the door intotheteeth '15 and 22 and the door is again looked.

The mechanism which I have described not only starts the door openwhen'it'is closed and starts the door towards the closed position whenopenbut without this mechanism in case anyone carelessly left the doorand track raised after unloading the car, the door would run back andforth when the car was coupled up in a train and'this would damage thedoor more or less but with my new construction, if the door is leftraised then the first time the car is coupled onto the train, the doorwill be shifted towards its closed position or towards its open positionand will be locked.

In case of a fire door on large buildings, the track 28 can be set onanincline. The door can then be pushed open and the track dropped,locking it in place. In case of fire all that would be necessary to dowould be to pull the lever and the door will run shut itself and whenitstruck the trip, that is the lug 3 k, or the member as, whichever isused, it would cause the track to drop and lower the door into'a lockedposition. By having two levers 35 and 36 and placing one of these leverson the inside of the door frame, anyone who happened to get locked incould open the door.

Especial attention is called to the fact that each of the slots 31 isenlarged at its right hand end suniciently to let the upper flange ofthe track drop down on the gear rack when the door is open. This savesthe track and takes load off of the studs and reduces wear on the track,slots and studs. The lower or left hand end of each slot is recessed atits top wall, as before stated, so as to provide for a slight interlockof the track with the stud so that the track will not move off of thestud while the door is being moved.

I claim 1. The combination with a sliding and vertically movable door, avertically movable track upon which the door slides, and meansautomatically locking the door when the door and track are lowered, saidmeans freeing the door for longitudinal movement when the door israised, of means acting as the door and track are raised, automaticallyshoving the door towards open position when the doorisclosed, and'me'ansacting as the door and track are raised, automatically shovingthe doortowards closed position when the door is open, said second named meansbeing manuallyshiftable-out .i

of operative position. i i

f2. '-lhe combination with a sliding and vertically movable 'door and avertically movable track upon which the door runs whenthe track israised, and means lock-'- ingly engaging the-door when the door islowered, of means-acting automatlca-lly, as the door nears its closedposition, to cause the lowering of the track and door to thereby. lockthe door.

o. lIB CODIblDRtlOII with a sliding and v-erticallymovable door and avertically movable track" upon which the door runs, and means lock nglyengaging'the door when the, door and track are lowered, of means actingautoinatically as the door nears either its closed or open position tocause the lowering of the track and door to thereby lock the door.

a. The combination with a vertically movable door and a Vertically andlongitudinally movable track upon which the door slides,-nieans forlongitudinally shifting the track, means causing the track to-rise as itis shifted longitudinally in one direction and lower when shifted in theopposite direction, and means for locking the door against longitudinalmovement when lowered, of means acting automatically as, the

door nears the limit of its longitudinal movement inone direction toshift the track in a direction to lower the door and cause it to lock.

vertically movable door and a vertically and longitudinally movabletrack upon which the door slides, meansfor longitudinally 5. Thecombination with a sliding and shifting the track, means for causing thetrack to riseas it is shifted longitudinally in one direction and lowerwhen shifted in the opposite direction, and means for locking the. dooragainst longitudinal movement when lowered, of coacting members mountedon' the track and door respectively and adapted to engage each other asthe track is raised and longitudinally shifted to thereby cause the doorto receive an initial shove from the track.

6. The combinationwith a sliding and vertically movable door and avertically-and longitudinally movable track upon which the door slides,means for longitudinally shifting the track, means for causing the trackto rise as it is shifted longitudinally in one direction and lower whenshifted in the opposite'direction, and means for locking the dooragainst longitudinal movement when lowered, of coacting members mountedon the track and door respectively and adapted to engage each other asthe track is raised and longitudinally shifted to thereby cause the doorto receive an initial shove from the track, and upon a return of thedoor to its initial position to cause longitudinal movement of the track.to a depressed position. a

7. The combination with a sliding and vertically movable door, aVertically and longitudinally movable track upon which the door slides,means for manually shifting the track longitudinally, cam slots in thetrack and supporting pins engaging said slots, the cam slots being soformed that as the track is shifted in onedirection, the track will beraised and in the other direction it will be lowered means locking thedoor against longitudinal movement when the track and door are lowered,a lug on the track and an abutment on the door adapted to contact witheach other when the track is raised and shifted longitudinally tothereby give an initial impulse to the door in one direction and upon arelease of the door and its return to its initial position to cause thetrack to shift longitudinally and descend to thus automatically lowerthe door and cause it to be locked.

3. The combination with a sliding and vertically movable door and avertically and longitudinally movable track upon wh ch the door slides,said track having cam slots formed therein having their middle portionsextending at an angle to the direction of movement of the track,supporting pins passing through said slots, means for givinglongitudinal movement to the track, and means for locking the door fromlongitudinal movement when the track is lowered, of a lug projectingupward from one end of the track, an abutment member mounted upon thisend of the door and with which said lug is adapted to engage to give aniniti-ai shove to the door to an open position when the track is movedlongitudinally, a second abutment member mounted upon the opposite endof the door, and a lever mounted beyond the end of said track and havingone arm disposed in the path of movement of the track and the other armdisposed in the path of movement of said second named abutment, saidlever when struck by the second named abutment when the-door reaches itsfully open position acting to shift the track in a direction to cause itto be lowered, and when the door is fully open acting when the track israised and shifted longitudinally, to strike said second named abutmentand shift the door towards its closed position.

9. The combination with a sliding and vertically movable door and avertically and longitudinally movable track upon which the door slides,said track having cam slots formed therein having their middle portionsextending at an angle to the direction of movement of the track,supporting pins pass. ing through said slots, means for givinglongitudinal movement to the track, and means for locking the door fromlongitudinal movement when the track is lowered, of a lug projectingupward from one end of the track. an abutment member mounted upon thisend of the door and with which said lug is adapted to engage to give aninitial shove to the door to an open position when the track is movedlongitudinally, a second abutment member mounted upon the opposite endof the door, and a lever. mounted beyond the end of said track andhaving one arm disposed in the path of movement of the track and theother arm. disposed in the path of movement of said second namedabutment, said lever when struck by the second named abutment when thedoor reaches its fully open position acting to shift the track in adirection to cause it to be low red, and when the door is fully openacting when the track is raised and shifted longitudinally, to strikesaid second named abutment and shift the door towards its closedposition, the first named abutment including a member against which thelug on the track strikes, said member being manually movable out of thepath of movement of the lug. In testimony whereofI hereunto afiix mysignature.

DAVID EMER Y ((1H, l).

